US6421004B2 - Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters - Google Patents
Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters Download PDFInfo
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- US6421004B2 US6421004B2 US09/827,482 US82748201A US6421004B2 US 6421004 B2 US6421004 B2 US 6421004B2 US 82748201 A US82748201 A US 82748201A US 6421004 B2 US6421004 B2 US 6421004B2
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- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01R—MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES
- G01R29/00—Arrangements for measuring or indicating electric quantities not covered by groups G01R19/00 - G01R27/00
- G01R29/08—Measuring electromagnetic field characteristics
- G01R29/10—Radiation diagrams of antennas
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- the present invention relates in general to communication systems, and is particularly directed to a new and improved antenna range test mechanism that uses direct spread-spectrum based test signals to mitigate against impairments to an antenna test range caused by multipath and or the presence of one or more interfering emitters.
- an antenna 10 whose performance is to be measured may be mounted inside a compact test range 12 , such as an EMI-shielded anechoic chamber, that is configured to eliminate reflections and interference from unwanted sources of electromagnetic radiation.
- Testing the antenna typically involves directing radio wave emissions from a test signal source 14 toward the antenna 10 , and measuring the amplitude and phase response of the antenna by means of a range receiver 16 , the output of which may be displayed or recorded via an associated test and measurement workstation 18 .
- the relative orthogonal principle planes (e.g., azimuth and elevation) parameters between the antenna 10 and test signal source 14 are varied (for example, by moving either the antenna or the test source), both boresight and off-axis gain parameters are derived.
- this interference and reflection free test range problem is compounded by the fact that antenna designers are no longer necessarily principally interested in boresight performance; they now must measure the antenna's off-axis characteristics, in order, for example, to evaluate its ability to place nulls on one or more of the continually growing number of interferers, such as the cellular phone and CB radio devices, referenced above.
- the outdoor test range operator could face the dilemma of trying to measure side lobe characteristics of the antenna, without the presence of one or more likely interferers, while at the same time designing the antenna to exhibit a characteristic that allows placement of nulls on such interferers.
- the test range impairment problem described above is effectively mitigated by employing a test signal whose characteristics facilitate the signal processing or electronic rejection of all other signals that may be present in the test range, and thereby allows both main beam and sidelobe characteristics of the antenna to be accurately measured.
- the present invention uses a test signal, which has very high autocorrelation properties with itself on the one hand for test measurement purposes, and high cross-correlation properties with signals other than itself (especially including interferers and specular reflection) for interference rejection.
- a signal waveform that readily complies with this requirement is a direct sequence spread-spectrum signal.
- the antenna under test may be mounted at a location at which measurements are to be conducted by range receiver equipment connected to the antenna.
- the antenna's response may be measured as a test range signal source, that is operative to generate a direct spread-spectrum signal, is moved relative to the antenna's boresight axis.
- the test source may be fixed and the antenna's pointing angle varied in orthogonal principle planes.
- the test range receiver equipment to which the output of the antenna under test is coupled, may comprise an RF receiver section which demodulates and bandpass filters the spread test signal received from the test signal source and outputs a signal that is despread in a correlation processor to recover the earliest line-of-sight emission from the test source.
- Multipath is circumvented by selecting the earliest in time (first-to-arrive) correlator output signal which is time-aligned with the reference PN signal, whose energy content exceeds a prescribed threshold in order to identify the line-of-sight traveling test signal of interest.
- Impairments due to RF emissions other than those sourced from the spread signal test signal source are avoided, since the energy in the correlator outputs for these other emissions is highly cross-correlated with the reference PN sequence, and therefore effectively null.
- the energy in the highly autocorrelated output of the correlator processor is digitized and processed by way of the antenna performance measurement algorithm executed by a test processor.
- test range signal is highly cross-correlated to licensed transmitters, and therefore interference of such signals is eliminated or reduced to a non-interfering level.
- FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a compact enclosed antenna test range
- FIG. 2 diagrammatically illustrates an embodiment of an antenna test range in accordance with the present invention that is configured to mitigate against the presence of test range impairments;
- FIG. 3 diagrammatically illustrates a direct spread-spectrum signal based test signal source for use in the antenna test range of FIG. 2;
- FIG. 4 diagrammatically illustrates the configuration of range receiver equipment for the antenna test range of FIG. 2 .
- the invention resides primarily in a prescribed arrangement of conventional communication circuits and associated digital signal processing components and attendant supervisory control circuitry therefor, that controls the operations of such circuits and components so as to enable both the main beam and off-axis performance of an antenna under test to be accurately measured, irrespective of the presence of one or more interferers or specular reflectors.
- FIG. 2 diagrammatically illustrates an embodiment of an antenna test range in accordance with the present invention that is configured to mitigate against the presence of test range impairments, such as but not limited to specular reflections from a building 31 , or signals emitted from one or more ‘interference’ sources 33 , such as a cellular radio tower 34 , that may be incident upon an antenna 30 whose performance is to be measured.
- test range impairments such as but not limited to specular reflections from a building 31 , or signals emitted from one or more ‘interference’ sources 33 , such as a cellular radio tower 34 , that may be incident upon an antenna 30 whose performance is to be measured.
- the antenna 30 may be mounted at a prescribed location at which measurements are to be conducted by way of associated range receiver equipment 35 connected to the antenna 30 .
- Radio wave emissions in the band over which the antenna is operated are directed from a test signal source 37 toward the antenna 30 , and the response of the antenna 30 is measured by means of the range receiver equipment 35 .
- the antenna's response may be measured, as the orientation in orthogonal principle planes of the antenna is changed or the test range signal source 37 may be moved relative to the antenna's boresight axis.
- the incidence on the antenna 30 of potentially impairing emissions or reflections, such reflections 32 from a building 31 and/or emissions from ‘interference’ sources such as a cellular radio 33 are mitigated in accordance with the invention by using a direct spread-spectrum signal as the test signal source waveform.
- a principal advantage of using a spread-spectrum test signal is the fact that its signature is unique, having high autocorrelation properties with itself, and high cross-correlation properties with signals other than itself.
- the test signal source 37 of the test range of FIG. 2 may be configured as diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 3, which shows a direct spreading pseudo-random chip sequence generator 40 , the output of which is a ‘spread’ or ‘chipped’ data stream having a prescribed number of chips per baud.
- the chip sequence produced by generator 40 is coupled to the test source's RF section 42 , which may comprise an RF mixer to which an RF carrier and the spreading PN sequence output by PN spreading sequence generator 40 are applied, as a non-limiting example.
- the resulting spread RF test carrier produced by the RF section 42 is then transmitted via a test source antenna 44 along a prescribed transmission axis toward the antenna under test.
- a non-limiting example of range receiver equipment, to which the output of the antenna under test is coupled, is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 4, as comprising an RF receiver-despreader section 50 , which receives the spread test signal emitted by the test signal source 37 and despread-correlation processes the received signal to recover the earliest line-of-sight emission from the test source.
- the receiver section 50 may include a mixer 51 to which the output of a local oscillator 52 is applied, to provide a baseband spread signal that is coupled through a bandpass filter 53 to a correlation processor 54 .
- the correlation processor 54 is coupled to receive a spread-spectrum reference signal pattern produced by a pseudo random noise (PN) generator 55 .
- the PN generator 55 is operative to generate the same direct spreading PN sequence employed by the test signal source of FIG. 3, described above.
- Impairments due to multipath are readily avoided by selecting the earliest-in-time correlator output signal whose energy content exceeds a prescribed (adaptive) threshold to identify the first-to-arrive (line-of-sight) test signal of interest. Impairments due to RF emissions other than those sourced from the test signal source are avoided, since the energy in the correlator output for other emissions is highly cross-correlated (rather than highly auto-correlated) with the reference PN sequence, and therefore effectively null.
- the energy in the highly autocorrelated (first-to-arrive) output of the correlation processor 54 is then digitized and processed by way of the antenna performance measurement algorithm executed by a work station 56 associated with the range receiver equipment.
- test range methodology of the present invention makes it possible to electronically reject all unwanted signals that may be present in the test range, and thereby allows both main beam and off-axis performance of the antenna to be completely and accurately measured.
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Abstract
Description
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Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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US09/827,482 US6421004B2 (en) | 1999-04-20 | 2001-04-06 | Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US09/295,015 US6236362B1 (en) | 1999-04-20 | 1999-04-20 | Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters |
US09/827,482 US6421004B2 (en) | 1999-04-20 | 2001-04-06 | Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters |
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US09/295,015 Continuation US6236362B1 (en) | 1999-04-20 | 1999-04-20 | Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters |
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US20010017597A1 US20010017597A1 (en) | 2001-08-30 |
US6421004B2 true US6421004B2 (en) | 2002-07-16 |
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US09/295,015 Expired - Fee Related US6236362B1 (en) | 1999-04-20 | 1999-04-20 | Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters |
US09/827,482 Expired - Lifetime US6421004B2 (en) | 1999-04-20 | 2001-04-06 | Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters |
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US09/295,015 Expired - Fee Related US6236362B1 (en) | 1999-04-20 | 1999-04-20 | Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters |
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Cited By (6)
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US20050101315A1 (en) * | 2003-11-12 | 2005-05-12 | Ntt Docomo, Inc. | System and method for estimating weighting parameters for antenna elements |
US20060262943A1 (en) * | 2005-04-29 | 2006-11-23 | Oxford William V | Forming beams with nulls directed at noise sources |
US20080309565A1 (en) * | 2007-06-18 | 2008-12-18 | Agc Automotive Americas R&D, Inc. | Signal measurement system and method for testing an rf component |
CN1804643B (en) * | 2005-01-11 | 2010-04-14 | 华为技术有限公司 | Antenna failure recognition system and antenna failure recognition method |
US8195118B2 (en) | 2008-07-15 | 2012-06-05 | Linear Signal, Inc. | Apparatus, system, and method for integrated phase shifting and amplitude control of phased array signals |
US8872719B2 (en) | 2009-11-09 | 2014-10-28 | Linear Signal, Inc. | Apparatus, system, and method for integrated modular phased array tile configuration |
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US6236362B1 (en) * | 1999-04-20 | 2001-05-22 | Harris Corporation | Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters |
US7039140B2 (en) * | 2001-03-08 | 2006-05-02 | Proxim Wireless Corporation | OFDM data demodulators synchronization |
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US20040076138A1 (en) * | 2002-10-22 | 2004-04-22 | Texas Instruments Incorporated | Method for determining packet error rate of wireless lan stations |
AU2003286971A1 (en) * | 2002-12-20 | 2004-07-14 | Amplet Inc. | System and method for measuring radiation characteristic of antenna |
US8600341B2 (en) | 2008-03-14 | 2013-12-03 | William J. Johnson | System and method for location based exchanges of data facilitating distributed locational applications |
US8634796B2 (en) | 2008-03-14 | 2014-01-21 | William J. Johnson | System and method for location based exchanges of data facilitating distributed location applications |
US9014658B2 (en) | 2008-03-14 | 2015-04-21 | William J. Johnson | System and method for application context location based configuration suggestions |
EP2682788B1 (en) * | 2012-07-06 | 2016-12-21 | ams AG | Circuit arrangement and method for disturber detection |
US9894489B2 (en) | 2013-09-30 | 2018-02-13 | William J. Johnson | System and method for situational proximity observation alerting privileged recipients |
GB2531310A (en) * | 2014-10-16 | 2016-04-20 | Kathrein Werke Kg | A test apparatus and a method of testing of an antenna |
US10848234B2 (en) * | 2017-04-28 | 2020-11-24 | Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ) | Base transceiver station interference cancellation for reuse of terrestrial carrier in air-to-ground communication |
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US6236362B1 (en) * | 1999-04-20 | 2001-05-22 | Harris Corporation | Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters |
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US5553062A (en) | 1993-04-22 | 1996-09-03 | Interdigital Communication Corporation | Spread spectrum CDMA interference canceler system and method |
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US4581767A (en) * | 1980-06-25 | 1986-04-08 | The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Army | Measurement of jamming effectiveness by cross correlation techniques (C) |
US4937584A (en) | 1988-12-22 | 1990-06-26 | United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy | Adaptive phase-shifter nulling techniques for large-aperture phases arrays |
US5170411A (en) | 1990-09-21 | 1992-12-08 | Victor Company Of Japan, Ltd. | Modulation and demodulation system for spread spectrum transmission |
US5363403A (en) | 1993-04-22 | 1994-11-08 | Interdigital Technology Corporation | Spread spectrum CDMA subtractive interference canceler and method |
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US5396255A (en) | 1994-02-28 | 1995-03-07 | United Technologies Corporation | Automated far field antenna pattern test facility |
US5534871A (en) | 1994-04-22 | 1996-07-09 | Mitsubishi Precision Co., Ltd. | Apparatus for measuring physical quantity related to relative movement between two objects |
US5493304A (en) | 1994-09-29 | 1996-02-20 | Hughes Aircraft Company | Calibration system for wide band array using true-time-delay beamsteering |
US5553602A (en) | 1995-11-03 | 1996-09-10 | Universal Enterprises, Inc. | Heat-dissipating extender |
US6236362B1 (en) * | 1999-04-20 | 2001-05-22 | Harris Corporation | Mitigation of antenna test range impairments caused by presence of undesirable emitters |
Cited By (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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US20050101315A1 (en) * | 2003-11-12 | 2005-05-12 | Ntt Docomo, Inc. | System and method for estimating weighting parameters for antenna elements |
US7957730B2 (en) * | 2003-11-12 | 2011-06-07 | Ntt Docomo, Inc. | System and method for estimating weighting parameters for antenna elements |
CN1804643B (en) * | 2005-01-11 | 2010-04-14 | 华为技术有限公司 | Antenna failure recognition system and antenna failure recognition method |
US20060262943A1 (en) * | 2005-04-29 | 2006-11-23 | Oxford William V | Forming beams with nulls directed at noise sources |
US7991167B2 (en) | 2005-04-29 | 2011-08-02 | Lifesize Communications, Inc. | Forming beams with nulls directed at noise sources |
US20080309565A1 (en) * | 2007-06-18 | 2008-12-18 | Agc Automotive Americas R&D, Inc. | Signal measurement system and method for testing an rf component |
US7880670B2 (en) * | 2007-06-18 | 2011-02-01 | AGC Automotive | Signal measurement system and method for testing an RF component |
US8195118B2 (en) | 2008-07-15 | 2012-06-05 | Linear Signal, Inc. | Apparatus, system, and method for integrated phase shifting and amplitude control of phased array signals |
US8872719B2 (en) | 2009-11-09 | 2014-10-28 | Linear Signal, Inc. | Apparatus, system, and method for integrated modular phased array tile configuration |
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US6236362B1 (en) | 2001-05-22 |
US20010017597A1 (en) | 2001-08-30 |
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